DEA lifts lid on 10 year Wisa probe

THE US DRUG Enforcement Administration (DEA)   began its  investigation of  the Waked family group (Wisa)  and its connection to drug trafficking and money laundering,  10 years ago and Panamanian authorities cooperated in the process.

The facts are detailed in a letter signed by the director of the DEA in Panama, addressed to the First  Drug Prosecutor Markel Ivan Mora, who is currently  investigating   the Wisa Groupá activities.

But Abdul Waked, claims he knew nothing of the  probe although an associate’s home had been raided, reports La Prensa..

The DEA says their investigation began began at the airport of Tocumen, when arrested in August 2006, when Mexican Ariadna Hernandez-Lozada, was arrested at Tocumen International Airport who carrying $217 295.

The money went in a controlled delivery leading  to the arrest of Maria Gonzalez Reyes and Ali Shaaban Abd-Fares. The latter’s residence was raided and invoices totaling $10 million  including the Wisa Group.were seized

Fares-Shaaban told authorities that for four or five years he  received $2 million in cash weekly carried through Tocumen Airport, by  “mules”. “This information gathered in Panama led to  the beginning of our investigation,” the DEA said in their  letter.

Abdul Waked recently stated in an interview on  ‘Telemetro “ he “never suspected”   that the DEA was investigating the group.

Panama authorities have also been slow to admit they knew of the DEA research but the DEA letter reveals  that   , “via legal assistance”, sought in Panama, “multiple banking information that complemented the measures collected by our office [the DEA] was obtained, which led, on the one hand, to charges being brought, , in the Southern District of Florida, and on the other, the Treasury Department, through the Office of Foreign Assets Control restrictive measures of trade will apply “.

He was referring, in the first case, the charge against Nidal Waked, and second, to the inclusion of individuals-including Nidal and Waked- Abdul Waked and 68 Group companies in the so-called Clinton List.

The details offered to  prosecutor Mora  by the DEA official match statements at a   May 13, 2016, news conference,  by John Feeley, US ambassador to  Panama, who said that investigations against the Wakeds took a decade , and e a comprehensive review of information came  from more than seven  US government agencies.

“These monies came from suitcases full in cash, counterfeit bills and other methods of money laundering for multiple international drug trafficking organizations that are among the most unscrupulous and sophisticated in the world,” Feeley said

The DEA said that Colombian organizations carry cocaine from Colombia to Central America for final distribution in the United States. Among the organizations, are  the Sinaloa cartel and Urabeños.

After receiving the drugs , illicit profits were transported to Panama says  the letter to be laundered through several commercial money laundering schemes, such as false trade invoicing, smuggling large amounts of cash and other methods. “It is presumed that Nidal Ahmed Abdul Waked-Hatum and Mohamed Waked-Fares used such methods of money laundering to launder illicit drug money for different organizations.”

The letter also details the charges and alleged violations of US law by  representatives of Wisa.

The arrest of Nidal Waked, on May 4 in Bogota, Colombia, was based on a Provisional Arrest Warrant in relation to a charge criminal charge in the United States. reports La Prensa  “A charge of conspiracy to money laundering, fraud in a foreign bank; one count of conspiracy to money laundering, concealment of illicit drug profits; and … bank fraud. “

On  May 5 The OFAC and  the US Treasury Department, named Nidal Abdul Waked “as drug traffickers,” according to the Law on Foreign Narcotics Kingpin (Kingpin Act). Indicates that the “OFAC also designated six partners from Waked and 68 companies linked to the Waked DTO and money laundering, including Wisa Group, S.A., Riviera, S.A., Soho Panama, S.A., Panama Life, S.A. (Free Zone). Millennium Plaza, S.A., and Balboa Bank & Trust Bank. It is presumed that the criminal organization Nidal Waked and Abdul Waked these companies used to launder illicit money from drug trafficking and other criminal acts. “

In a Telemetro  interview in response to , to the question: You once had information that the Wisa Group was being investigated in the United States for?, Abdul Waked replied: “We never had even the slightest suspicion that we being investigated  as Wisa Group, not even a notice and nobody ever asked. ” He admitted, however, that for 20 years, The US has not granted him a  visa to enter the country.

Meanwhile, Wilhelmina McDonald, lawyer for  Abdul Waked, confirmed the existence of the DEA  and said  that Fares Shaaban, o mentioned in the  confiscation of millions of dollars in false invoices, was acquitted in a process led by justice in Panama.

McDonald said that among the bills seized from Fares Shaaban, were many that were  not Wisa.